There Is One Body and One Spirit: 4. Christ - the Head of the Body, in Heaven

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The remarkable quotation of the Eighth Psalm by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:2222And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22), will be helpful to us in understanding this — read Ephesians 1:19-2319And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19‑23): “The working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, and hath put all things under his feet (quotation from Psa. 8), and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”* The Eighth Psalm speaks of a “Son of Man,” to whom dominion over all creation is given. If we consult Genesis 1:2626And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26), we find that God gave to Adam and his wife a joint headship over all creation; but this headship was sinned away and lost when man fell. The whole creation, now groaning and travailing, was made subject to vanity through the fall of man. (See Rom. 8:19-2319For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:19‑23)). This headship is given, as Psalm 8 tells us, to a “Son of Man.” And we discover who this Son of Man is in Hebrews 2:66But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Hebrews 2:6), &c., where the Apostle, quoting the Psalm, tells us that we do not yet see the grand result of all things being subject to Him. He says, “For in that he put all under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor: that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.” Thus we find who this “Son of Man” is. It is Jesus. This brings us back to Ephesians 1, where Paul quotes the Psalm. Christ, then, as Man glorified, has been taken up of God from the dead, and seated in the heavenlies, “Head over all things, to the Church, which is his body,” and is waiting there for the manifest assumption of this Headship, during which time the Body is here.
In Colossians 1:1818And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18), we find Him spoken of as “Head of the body, the Church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.” His headship is now connected with the fact of resurrection. It is as risen and ascended, that Christ is Head of the Church.
We have now the Head of the body in heaven, a glorified Man, as well as the difficulty removed. But this does not yet constitute the body; and before we look at it we must turn aside for a moment and see what Scripture says of union with Christ.